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Topic: Mini2440 as wall-mounted orbiter (Read 8168 times)

I like wall mounted stuff as well, just like I prefer a corded phone over cordless phones. This does not mean, I don't own a mobile phone (which acts as an orbiter as well), but that I like to have a dedicated place, where I find stuff that I want to use.

Andrew: So the Touch Orbiter can run/can be ported to run on Linux running on a Mini2440?

From a wiring point of view, is there anything to prevent me from building one of these into a wall?

Thanks,

Rónán

Yes the Touch Orbiter would need porting to Linux as our current code is for the WinCE 5.0... but to be frank porting it over to Linux would be trivial. We did a WinCE version to make the point that it can be done.

As to putting a Mini-2440 in the Wall I cant see any problem other than physical mounting issues...Power & CAT5 is all you'd need.

Can I just ask a general question guys (I'm not having a go, am genuinely curious); what is the point of having in-wall orbiters? I can understand it from the POV of having one in your hallway or porch acting as an alarm panel, but what else would you need/use them for? Just seems to me that a combination of mobile orbiters (acting as remote controls) and onscreen orbiters would be all that was required.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Thanks for the various inputs on my question guys. I can completely understand it from the POV of not needing to hunt down a mobile orbiter (in my house however things tend to stay where I or the Mrs puts them.... no kids ).

I would definitely consider putting one in the hallway to control the alarm, lights when you get in/go out/go to bed, heating perhaps. Personally I just don't see where else I would ever use a wall-mounted orbiter, especially when I always have my mobile on me. In what other locations do you have them located guys, and what do you mainly use them for?

Well its a handheld Android device so it would not be easy to make it work as an in-wall device...you'd need to devise a way of mounting it in the wall that looked neat and clean. From a software point of view you could use Web Orbiter 2.0 on this device as we have tested Web Orbiter 2.0 on HTC Android 1.6 Phones and this unit uses Android 1.6 and has an 800x480 re screen which is the same resolution as the Nokia N800/810 - so i cant see you having any problems.

Do you have any idea what sort of back box is required for a Mini-2440? Can these fit into a standard double socket box?

Thanks,

Rónán

Well you might be a little 'rusty' in your coding skills ;-).... but the key thing to understand is that Touch Orbiter abstracts all of the complexity of creating an Orbiter by using the proxy_orbiter which is code that runs on your Core for each Touch Orbiter (and is also used for the Web Orbiter 2.0 too). Proxy_orbiter contains all of the Orbiter code you get in a full MD Orbiter but it uses Touch Orbiter as a 'remote' display for its UI. So Touch Orbiter just has to handle touch input from the screen, display of png or jpeg screen images and do some simple IP/socket based network connectivity. So basically you just need to be familiar with making apps for the device your targeting all of the LinuxMCE complexity is already handled for you in the proxy_orbiter which is code that already exists.

Dig in and have a try when we release the Touch Orbiter source code ;-) (probably in the next few days I would think)

I dont have any info on the specifics of mounting the 2440 in-wall... but others here I am sure may be able to help you out.